I gave the plants a good shake to scare off the beetles, and wiped off all the little clusters of eggs I could find. so far they're just on my tomatillos. They've left the tomatoes alone. Now if I can just scare away whatever is eating my peppers. Damn racoons!

I just moved and have some space to put in a real garden. I have to figure out where gets most sun (lots of trees around, and can't exactly chop those down.) Hopefully can get one bed ready for fall planting. I want carrots!

Another vote for Green's, it's supposed to be like a porter I think, though I found it was pretty light tasting (I've only had it once. The Glutenberg red ale if you can find it (It's made in Montreal but they're exporting to a lot of places in the US now) is also a darker beer and pretty tasty, though isn't what you'd call a stout/porter, just a darker red ale.

I was lucky enough to once try a maple porter made by a local gluten free craft brewery (they're still figuring out their new equipment but hope to start bottling in the next year.) It was definitely the best "dark" gluten-free beer I've had.

A neurologist can help you find out if you do have any neurological problems, which may or may not be caused by celiac disease. All the tests are annoying to go through, but it's better to go through them and know what you're dealing with, then you can determine what you want to do about it.

(speaking of which, I still need to go for a follow-up with mine... every time I go he sends me for another scan... I'd like to go a year without being stuffed in an MRI machine, thank you)

Simple answer is that you need more time. One month is not that long, and it usually takes several to heal. It sounds like you're doing everything right though, so there is the possibility that you have another intolerance. Are you still eating dairy? You could try dropping that and see what happens.

I wasn't patient enough to wait to get a biopsy done (blood tests were negative, probably false), but after feeling a million times better gluten-free, there was NO WAY I would ever touch the stuff again. I am quite confident in my self-diagnosis, and that's enough for me (Celiac runs on both sides of my family).

The only benefit of having an official diagnosis (at least in Canada) is that you can then claim the extra cost of gluten free foods on your taxes, which seems like a lot of pain to go through just to do some extra paperwork.

My mom did a challenge about a year after going gluten-free, and has had problems with dermatitis ever since.

If you feel you absolutely need that stamp of approval, then be ready for a month of pain, then several months of recover, basically starting from scratch.

If feeling better is enough to tell you that you should never touch gluten again, then there's really no need for more testing.

I'm pretty sure it's because, before going gluten-free, our bodies weren't absorbing all the alcohol. Once it starts healing, BAM! I went from being able to hold my beer pretty well pre-gluten-free, then down to drunk on 1 glass of wine after. I've re-built my tolerance over the years, but more than 2 or 3 drinks puts me firmly in tipsy category.

I drink a lot of brown liquor (scotch, bourbon, whisky, rye), and if it wasn't gluten-free, I'd probably be dead by now.

Some people, however, develop a real sensitivity to alcohol, in that they react to it no matter how much. Then there's sensitivities to sulfites, which makes finding a safe wine a pain in the arse (my mom has this. I'm always trying to find low-sulfite wines to take home to her)

Being a cheap drunk is definitely easier on the wallet, though. So, if you know you can only handle a couple, make sure they're something good and take your time.

I also agree it was likely the alcohol and not the zucchini. Alcohol of any sort can be hard on the stomach if you have more than a couple drinks. I also hope you were eating more than just zucchini. Were you doing the cooking yourself? Could there have been cross-contamination of anything? It could be that you are indeed still healing (just because the biopsy didn't show anything doesn't mean it's completely back to normal, just that it's improving).

In any case, definitely cooked veggies are easier on you than raw. I've never had trouble with peels, but peel them and see if it makes a difference. Celiac and Crohn's Disease do have similar sypmtoms.

If the restaurant you've been going to has a gluten-free menu, you should really talk to the manager/owner and suggest they label the chips and other deep-fried items that they are not cooked in a dedicated fryer. If you see an item listed on a gluten-free menu, you assume it's actually gluten-free! You don't want other people making the same mistake.

I'm lucky to have a place in my neighbourhood that does gluten-free fish and chips in a dedicated fryer, and all the fries are done separately from the regular fish. It's pretty sweet. (I limit myself to a few visits a year, because even if it's safe, it is deep fried...)

I worked at a pizza/italian restaurant when I started getting real Celiac symptoms (constant bloating despite loosing a ton of weight, feeling like crud after eating anything, etc). I always say (partly joking) that working there triggered my Celiac, but who knows. I definitely ate more pizza/pasta than usual that year. Should have put on at least 10lb, not lost it. Whether it was the trigger or not, it definitely made things worse.

In any case, yeah, it's interesting to look back and realise that oh, that low iron I had at 16 was probably a symptom. All those crazy panic attacks were probably symptoms. If only we'd known then.

A suggestion, no matter what kind of pasta you're using: undercook it a little (al dente), rinse it it cold water, then put it in with whatever sauce or such your having it with and let it heat back up in it. That seems to help get the starch off and it holds together a bit better.

This weekend I went to Chicago, again. For the 2nd time, it was one of the best gluten-free culinary experiences of any city I've been in. It's everywhere! and they seem to be much more conscious of cc and such because, for the 2nd time, I've been home for a couple days and NO GLUTENING! Yay!! I was even brave (or stupid) and ate the burrito stuff (in a bowl) they were using to make burritos at the BBQ, which could have been a CC disaster, but seems to be agreeing with me quite well. I had a few bathroom troubles, but they were more nerves/alcohol/forgot to take my enzymes related, and nothing to worry about.

Coming back from vacation without one bad incident feels like a victory! Gluten free happy dance!
As my boyfriend said, I should have all my meals flown in from Chicago. n

So, does anyone else have "victory" stories, times when you've done everything right AND it all turned out ok. Gluten-free happy dance moments?

Also, if you're ever in Chicago, go to Prasino's for the best gluten-free sandwich, Bountiful Eatery for entirely gluten-free fast food, and Big Star for the best tacos you will ever have (they only use corn tortillas).

The coffee and breakfast chain owned by Dunkin’ Brands Group Inc (DNKN). will sell gluten-free cinnamon-sugar doughnuts and blueberry muffins in all its U.S. stores this year, Stan Frankenthaler, the company’s executive chef, said in an e-mail.

“We recognize the importance of providing our guests with many options, including alternative choices for people with food and dietary restrictions,” he said. The pastries are packaged separately to avoid contamination from other foods that contain wheat flour.

So, if your local DD starts selling gluten-free, would you give it a shot? That is, depending on what goes on BEFORE they get wrapped in nice protective plastic. Honestly, I'd be nervous... and god knows what else is in them. But it's a good sign, I suppose. Does this mean the Canadian Holy of Holies, Tim Hortons, might jump on this bandwagon?